It was that time of year again. Had started waking up in the night with sore head. Felt blocked up all day and had some background pain. First couple of 1/2 hour long #1s arrived and I new it had come back...... so I dug out my supply of Liberty Cap (preserved in Honey) and boiled up a batch of 12 for 10 minutes. Drank solution slowly over 1/2 hour period and on full stomach.

Less side effects than usual, no feeling of uneasiness this time (must have been the full stomach). Head suddenly cleared 2 hours later (well behind schedule, must have been that full stomach). Didn't realise how bad my head had been till it got better.

Felt pretty good. Stayed up quite late and watched some TV. Next day felt slightly detached from reality, but nothing serious - was in good spirits.

Cluster completely terminated there and then (am Writing this 3 weeks later).

From past experience that single dose is all the treatment I'll need for the next 12 months.

Who said life had to be hell with CH? Wish my doctor would take an interest - perhaps then he could help some other poor bastard!

Nov 8, 1999:

When I was younger and still using Pot I found that it made the headaches worse. As did drinking and smoking. I avoided taking hallucinogentics during episodes because I was scared that combined with CH they might kill me! The strange thing was that I didn't suffer from an CH episodes at all the years I took LSD. That's what initially made me suspect there may be a link.

LSD is the sister drug to both Ergotamin and Methysergide. LSD also contains an Indole ring structure. According to Dogsbody IMITREX is a substituted indole - a sulphonated form of the well known hallucogen DMT, di-methyl triptamine. Now the substance Psilocybin that is found in some magic mushrooms (not Fly Agaric, although it may contain other similar chemicals) is also based around an Indole Ring. Psilocybin is metabolised into Psilocilin, and that substance is almost identical to Serotonin in structure.

The effective dose of Psilocybin is 10Mg. The effective dose of LSD is 0.1Mg. Both substances appear to work equally well, although your mind can tolerate the higher dose of Psilocybin (LSD gives you more bang for your gram).

There are a lot of similarities between Psilocybin, LSD and those drugs used conventionally to treat CH. The only difference is that Psilocybin and LSD are much more effective (and probably safer in such a small and infrequent dose).

November 08, 1999

I think what we need to do here is to gather up to date stats on the both the effectivenss and risks of using Psilocybin/Psilocilin to prevent CH.

So far I have only spoken to one acute sufferer other than myself who has used the treatment. In my case I have been using it (or LSD) for 8 1/2 years and it has been 100% sucessful in preventing CH. The other person has only used it once (recently) and again it was 100% sucessful.

In the guestbook there is a guy called ROB who used LSD for 14 years. He reckons it was 100% successful when he was episodic, but doesn't paint a complete picture of the duration of relief it brings now he is chronic.

Getting info on the risks should be easier. As far as I am aware the risks are extremely small for this magnitude and frequency of dose. The stats on deaths from LSD and mushrooms should be fairly easy to track down.

October 01, 1999

Liberty Cap mushrooms contain a strong hallucinogen called psilocybin. This substance is effective against CH and possibly migraine. Liberty Cap mushrooms are currently in season in the UK.

I strongly recomend consulting a pictorial reference book before seeking out these mushrooms. There are only a handful of fataly toxic mushrooms in the UK and none of them resemble Liberty Cap, but it is better to be safe than sorry.

It is illegal in the UK to be in pocession of processed (including dired) Liberty Cap mushrooms. The law can be circumvented by preserving the fresh mushrooms in honey.

The mushrooms can be ingested raw but this may cause stomach pain and flatulance. The preferred method is to boil the muchrooms for 10-15mins then strain them out and drink the water.

The effective dose is around 10-12 mushrooms (around 1/4 the recreational dose). Ingest slowly over a 30 minute period to avoid unwelcome side effects.

A single dose can provide protection against cluster episodes for 6-12 months. I don't know how well it works on chronic sufferers.

The dose may be taken at any time including outside cluster episodes.

Psilocybin is chemically similar to LSD. LSD is an extract of ergot as are ergotamine and methysergide.

February 21, 2000

I haven't visited for a while, now that my CH is under control there is less incentive for me to check the board on a regular basis.

So I guess the consensus is that we're on to something. Now we have to find a way to take it forward... people with MS have been battling for the last 20 years to have cannaboids prescribed to them.

I've noticed that those who have used the treatment or those that take it seriously don't make any jokes about it. Now I'm all for a little humour but I think in this case it may undermine out credibility. In order to keep the discussion serious I suggest we refer to the active ingredient by it's real name - Psilocilin, as opposed to using the 'S' word. Remember that Psilocybin is metabolised into Psilocilin and it is this compound that is closest to Serotonin.

Another problem we face is that making people aware of this is likely to end with someone getting hurt. There are scores (pardon the pun) of fungi that contain Psilocybin and Psilocin, some of them are stronger than others. Some deadly fungi (especially in North America) look way too similar.

I have always concentrated on Liberty Cap because it is easiest to identify, and nothing looks too similar to it. However the picker must be objective about this - if someone is desperate to locate a particular species they may end up picking something that looks 'close enough', and that is too close for comfort!

Anyway, for the record, this is what I know. In condensed form.

Around 48 Liberty Cap is of similar strength to a street dose of Acid. Liberty Cap is a weak fungus. To treat my episodic CH (2 episodes a year before I started treating it) requires a single dose of 10-12 Liberty Cap. Please remember that it can take 3-4 days for the body to metabolise all the Psilocybin into Psilocin. Liberty Cap contains no Psilocin.

Eating the mushrooms raw is dangerous, they can contain parasite eggs that may damage the liver. Eating the mushrooms when cooked gives you the worst and most painful gas ever. I recommend boiling for 15 mintutes then straining out the mushrooms.

The mushrooms can be stored by preserving them raw in honey. This way they stay potent for longer.

At this dosage there should be little or no psychoactive effects, other than a slight feeling of unease or dread. To get around this I ingest the solution over a 30 min period.

Don't use this to treat individual headaches, it is a preventative! Taking during a headache will put it away, but there may still be shadows or even mild headaches for the next 48 hours. After that everything should clear up.

The active ingredients are ineffective if the treatment is taken more than once in the same 5 day period. In my case the single dose will prevent CH for over a year.

A serious problem is that this is illegal.

People who have taken this without prior experience, are going to act like this is the most wonderful thing ever, and a cure for all their problems. You know the type of thing 'When you're high you never, ever wanna come down' and so forth. This wont to the cause any good.

We also need some good hard stats. I don't think this treatment works for everyone.

This charge of $30K for research study isn't a huge amount of money. I personally could pledge $1000. Speak about putting your money where your mouth is.

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